'Rogue One' Director Gareth Edwards: 'I Owe My Whole Career to George Lucas'

During Friday’s Rogue One panel at Star Wars Celebration in London, director Gareth Edwards talked about a surprise visit he received from the creator of the film’s far, far away galaxy, George Lucas. Set shortly before the events of Lucas’s A New Hope, Rogue One follows the team of rebels (lead by Felicity Jones’s Jyn Erso) who steal the plans to the first Death Star. Edwards described Lucas’s sharp sense of humor, saying the iconoclast would criticize certain things, striking fear into the young director’s heart — until Edwards would realize Lucas was joking.

On a press line following the panel, Edwards expanded on how Lucas took the piss out of him, as you would say in these parts. “George was just teasing us the whole time about how much we were building for real, because we were embracing real sets and building the cockpits for real, and trying to limit the green screen of it all,” he said. “So he was teasing us about that. He didn’t mean it. But for a minute, we thought he did and we were getting nervous.”

Related: Lucasfilm Head: Darth Vader Has a ‘Very, Very Important Part’ in 'Rogue One’

Then Edwards, who last directed the 2014 monster hit Godzilla got introspective about Lucas’s influence on scrappy young filmmakers. Edwards own directorial debut was the 2010 low-budget creature feature Monsters. He used only a five-person crew and two actors and personally created the special effects for the film, which went on to earn critical praise and eventually led Warner Bros. to hire him for its Godzilla reboot. “I owe my whole career to George. Because I got inspired by Star Wars, but not only that — he pushed technology forwards and he allowed you to edit a film on your computer, and he allowed you to shoot on digital cameras. You didn’t have to have film. And that’s how I got my big break, by making something digital. I didn’t have to have millions of dollars from a massive company. And so he inspired a generation…and he gave them all the tools to go and make them.”

Watch the ‘Monsters’ trailer:

Related: Felicity Jones and Kathleen Kennedy Don’t Want Focus to Be On 'Rogue One’ Hero’s Gender

“There’s been no one like him in cinema,” Edwards added about Lucas. “He’s very underrated in terms of what he’s given the history of cinema.”

Watch the ‘Rogue One’ behind-the-scenes reel:

While it was Lucas who gifted us Star Wars — and inspired legions of filmmakers with his technical approaches to filmmaking — current Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy thinks Edwards will bring an entirely new facet to the saga with Rogue One.

Asked what will surprise fans the most about the December release, Kennedy said it will be the film’s look. “It immediately feels different than what they’ve seen in previous Star Wars movies. I think it’s a more visceral kind of experience. Gareth does a lot of handheld work in this — it makes it more immersive. It really draws you into the movie in a way that I don’t think people have really experienced with Star Wars.”

Rogue One opens Dec. 16. Watch the cast introduce their characters: